In the early seasons of Game Of Thrones it always seemed to take its characters umpteen episodes to get from one part of the world to the other. Those limitations have become less stringent in Game of Thrones season 7, as Jon Snow received a crow from Tyrion Lannister in the blink of an eye and then Daenerys was able to almost instantly fly in and save the King Of The North and his posse in Beyond The Wall.

Director Alan Taylor, who oversaw Beyond The Wall, has now admitted that the timeline in Game Of Thrones season 7 is “straining plausibility,” which comes after dozens of fans questioned just how quickly the events in this season have been unfolding. But while Alan Taylor was happy to admit that the timeline has become “hazy,” he insisted that this was so the episodes could be much more of an “emotional experience.”

“We were aware that timing was getting a little hazy,” Taylor explained to Variety. “We’ve got Gendry running back, ravens flying a certain distance, dragons having to fly back a certain distance… We tried to hedge it a little bit with the eternal twilight up there north of The Wall. I think there was some effort to fudge the timeline a little bit by not declaring exactly how long we were there. I think that worked for some people, for other people it didn’t.”

“They seemed to be very concerned about how fast a raven can fly but there’s a thing called plausible impossibilities, which is what you try to achieve, rather than impossible plausibilities. So I think we were straining plausibility a little bit, but I hope the story’s momentum carries over some of that stuff.”

However, Alan Taylor is actually a little relieved that the show is receiving such heavy scrutiny, because it just underlines how hugely successful and popular Game Of Thrones has become. “If the show was struggling, I’d be worried about those concerns,” Taylor continued. “But the show seems to be doing pretty well so it’s OK to have people with those concerns.”

We’ll get to see whether or not the hit show continues to smudge up its timeline when the Game of Thrones season 7 finale airs on Sunday August 27 on HBO at 9pm EST.